EADS North America chairman Ralph Crosby told reporters at a Washington news conference: "We did in fact revise our proposal and our price."

The European Aeronautic Defence and Space company "improved and updated the pricing" of the proposed A330 aircraft made by France-based unit Airbus and submitted a "very competitive price proposal," he said.

In a politically charged battle, the US and European rivals delivered their revised final bids by last Friday's deadline to replace 179 tankers in an aging fleet of Boeing KC-135s that date back to the 1950s.

Boeing's chief executive Jim McNerney last week described its final bid as an "aggressive" attempt to beat its "subsidized" European rival. But EADS had held off comment on its bid until Wednesday's briefing.

Boeing tanker spokesman Bill Barksdale declined to comment on Crosby's remarks, but pointed to a Boeing statement Thursday announcing delivery of the bid.

In the statement, McNerney said the Boeing offer "will enable the US Air Force to continue serving as the world's finest air refueling provider without breaking future defense budgets."

The Air Force has been trying for nearly a decade to award a contract to update the fleet of aircraft, which serve as flying gasoline stations for military aircraft.

This third attempt is marked by fierce lobbying from lawmakers seeking jobs in their states -- for Boeing, in Washington state and Kansas; for Airbus, in Alabama -- and comes amid a long-running trade dispute between the United States and the European Union at the World Trade Organization over public subsidies for Boeing and Airbus.

The Department of Defense insists the winner would be decided on the merits of the bids. The department hoped "to make an award within a month or so," comptroller Robert Hale told reporters Monday.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates was pressed for an announcement date Wednesday at a hearing of the House of Representative Armed Services Committee.

"Do you have a date for the tanker decision? Do you have a date for the tanker decision?" asked Representative Rick Larsen, a Washington state Democrat whose district is home to Boeing's factory in Everett.

"No, but I would say, within the next two to three weeks, something like that," Gates said.

Analysts expect the decision will be announced in March.

Crosby recalled that its last bid, with US defense giant Northrop Grumman in 2008, won the contract because the price was six percent lower than Boeing's offer.

That decision was withdrawn after the congressional watchdog, the Government Accountability Office, upheld Boeing's objections.

This time EADS is competing without a main partner, but with support from a number of US equipment makers.

Crosby said that because the Airbus rate of production has increased, EADS's price advantage "may be greater than that" six percent difference.

Crosby sidestepped a question on what would be EADS response if the Pentagon changed its mind on a single-source contract and opted to split the contract between the rivals.

The EADS North America chairman highlighted that the request for proposal for the contract allows "one or more" contracts.

"I believe that this Pentagon is dead-set on a single award," he said.

Asked whether EADS would protest an award to Boeing, Crosby said: "Unless there's some egregious process error, I would not expect that we would protest."

The rivals are offering militarized versions of their commercial aircraft.

The EADS KC-45 is based on the long-haul Airbus 330, in service since 1993. EADS says it has 31 percent more capacity and a longer range than Boeing's offer, the KC-767. It would be assembled in Mobile, Alabama.

EADS expects to produce at least 12 aircraft a year.

Boeing is proposing the NewGen Tanker, built around its long-haul 767 plane which entered service in 1982. The aircraft is smaller than the Airbus plane and would be assembled in Everett and equipped in Wichita, Kansas.

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